Parliamo Italiano

Went to buy a scone in the canteen and ‘Friday I’m in love’ by The Cure was coming through loud and clear, rendering the student on the till somewhat inaudible. The lack of discernible mouth movements indicated a Type 5 Inaudible speaker anyway, and I reflected that perhaps my audibility taxonomy wasn’t so useless after all. As I made my way to the door, one of my own students tapped me on the arm with a cheery “Hi”. The rest was a mystery, although I caught something about a stomach from a hand gesture. Damn, he’s a Type 2 Belter I thought, ought to be able to hear him despite The Cure’s best efforts. Once outside, I ran the gauntlet of a spectacularly lurid student fundraising cake stall in the street, guiltily hiding my ref-bought scone under my cardigan.

I swiped myself in the front door and spotted a distant Type 1 Foghorn colleague talking to a tanned student in the hallway. He was talking to the student in Italian, and I was shocked that I had underestimated his international superstar credentials. So he was bilingual…impressive, I pondered. As I drew closer, however, my illusions were shattered as I realised he was actually speaking in English.

Looks like that recently banished peak in the 1KHz area was doing something important besides generating whistling noises after all.